Christmas Lights
by Jellicle-in-the-box
Summary: ON HIATUS, RETURN DATE UNKNOWN The story of the Jellicle Ball from the movie, told from the perspective of Mistofelees and his little sister, Victoria. Misto learns magic and vies for Coricopats respect, Victoria learns to dance and meets Plato.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cats or any of the characters, settings, scenarios, etc.**

**A/N: **This story is based on the movie, that being the form of Cats that I can watch repeatedly enough to base a story on it. The title is very tentative, based on an idea I am working on for future chapters. Please review this one! If people don't like it, I won't waste my time working on this story and will instead put that time towards another forming idea. Thanks and enjoy!

-Jellicle-in-the-Box

* * *

It's hard being magical. Everyone expects things from you. You can't disappoint them. Magic just isn't flashy. For some reason, all the Jellicles expect sparks to fly out of my fingers or something. But magic just doesn't work like that.

Tantomile told me I just have to make it seem flashy. She says that that's why magic takes so much energy. You have to spend just as much magical power on the sparkles as you do on the actual magic. I still can't sparkle and make something happen at the same time. Coricopat says that the sparkly part is "exceptionally superfluous and inapt." Well, I think that's what he said. That's the only bit of his lecture I understood. Coricopat uses a lot of big words.

Tanto says to ignore him, that he's just showing off. Then she sends him off to work on some big project they're doing while she trains me for the Ball.

Next month there is a Jellicle Ball. That only happens once a year, when the full moon is in perigee. That's when the moon is closest to the earth, so the moon is really big. Then we have a ball and somebody gets picked by Old Deuteronomy to go to the Heavyside Layer. There's a lot of magic involved. Every year, Tanto and Cori have to make lights, help with the older cats' presentations, protect the junkyard, and do all sorts of other bits of magic. This year, I get to help them.

Also at the Jellicle Ball, one queenkit comes of age. A tomkit who already came of age at one of the Preticle Balls, when the moon is really small and far away, dances the Mating Dance with her. She usually doesn't know who it will be, until she turns around at the start of the dance. But it isn't like the arranged marriages that humans do. Old Deuteronomy watches all the toms, no longer tomkits, and the kitten who will come of age that year. He decides who is best for her, and then the tom is told at the beginning of the Ball. In the middle of the ball, the new queen comes to the middle of the junkyard and turns her back to the toms. The tom who was chosen comes forward. When she is ready, the queen turns around, and the love of her life stands there waiting to sweep her off her paws and into the Mating Dance, and then they live happily ever after.

Well, that's the way Jennyanydots tells it.

I wouldn't know if it's really that romantic. I've only been to two Jellicle Balls before, and no queenkits came of age either year. My little sister, Victoria, will come of age this year. As her older brother, I was chosen to take her out of her Coming of Age Dance. But I only came of age at this last Preticle Ball. I just hope I don't mess up.

* * *

It's hard being a kitten. Especially a queenkit. Everyone expects you to be good, listen to your elders, be polite, stay clean, and look for a suitable mate. It's not even like we get to pick our mates anyway. Old Deuteronomy does that. It's not like he just picks for us. He chooses the tom who he thinks will be the best for us. He's never chosen wrong, either. Except maybe when he chose Macavity for Demeter, but that was long before I was born. Besides, once Macavity left, Demeter was allowed to have a Mating Dance again, and that time Deuteronomy chose the perfect mate for her. She and Munkustrap are always so happy together. Even a kitten like me can see that.

I'm not worried about who Deuteronomy picks. I trust him for that. I'm mostly worried about after that. I'll be a queen, not a kitten. Am I allowed to still play with my friends? None of them come of age for at least another year, and only Jemi does next year. Etcetera and Electra still have two more years of kittenhood. Am I still allowed to play with the toms and tomkits? Most of Misto's friends? They're my friends too.

Misto is the best older brother I could imagine. He always lets me play with him and his friends, as long as he's not studying with the twins. I mean, Tantomile and Coricopat. They don't like it when people call them "the twins." Misto once told me that even though they are telepathic, they are two really different cats, and hate being thought of as one.

Magic confuses me. Sometimes, it's really fun. Like when Misto throws sparks at one place, and my fur stands on end, and suddenly I'm over there instead of where I was. Or when he makes little sparkles at the surface of the stream that's by the Junkyard. The fish all swim to the sparkles and then we can grab them without getting more than our paws wet.

But sometimes magic is scary. Like when Macavity is nearby, and he does something to Demeter. Nobody knows what he actually does, but she always screams his name and then he makes the sky flash with lightning.

Magic is annoying sometimes, too. Like when I want to play games and Tantomile comes over to take Misto. I know he has to learn, but it's more fun when he's there.

I'm so glad I don't have magic. And since Misto's the only magical cat right now, besides Coricopat and Tantomile, I don't have to worry about having a magical mate. I really shouldn't worry about my mate at all. But I just can't help it. The Jellicle Ball is at the start of next month. One week away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Sorry, I used up all my funny disclaimers on my other story. You know the drill. "None of the characters are mine. None of the settings are mine. I am not TS Eliot. I am not Andrew Lloyd Webber. I am not the Really Useful Group. I am just a humble fanfic writer"**

A/N: First of all, a major thank you to my reviewers! And a HUGE thanks to my Beta, Queen-of-Pi!

Now some notes on the story. The first chapter has changed a little. The last segment of that (which is the first segment of this chapter) was put there incorrectly, because I cannot work my computer. I have changed that to place it in this chapter instead. There haven't been many other changes to the last chapter, but some of the ages and years regarding previous Jellicle and Preticle balls have changed. I would suggest you go back and reread the last chapter; otherwise some parts of this chapter may seem contradictory.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Jellicle-in-the-Box

* * *

I still can't sparkle. It's really hard to concentrate on making things happen, and also think about your looks. Tanto and Cori are lucky. They never have to make themselves sparkle, because it looks magical enough that they talk without really talking. Plus, they can do more magic, because there are two of them. 

Sometimes I wish Victoria had magic too. She would be really good at it. I can just imagine how great we'd be if we did spells together. She's so smart, she'd probably be better at magic than me, even though she's younger. But she doesn't like magic, at least not doing magic. So I'm left doing magic alone.

I usually study my magic with Tantomile. Coricopat doesn't like teaching. Tanto says it's because he is impatient with kittens, and even newly-made toms. I don't think that's it. He seems to have patience for the other tomkits' antics, even when he always has to heal their cuts and bruises. Tantomile is a good teacher, but I wish he would teach me also. He's really good at lights, and I can't get mine bright, however hard I try.

"You're not concentrating, Mistoffelees," Tantomile told me yesterday while we were working on lights. We were practicing for the hundreds of lights we have to make for the Jellicle Ball.

"Of course I am!" I answered. She smiled.

"You're not concentrating, Mistoffelees," she repeated. "If you were concentrating, then you would know that the lights we were making were supposed to be red, not blue."

I stuck out my pink tongue at her and tried again.

"Red, Mistoffelees, not green," Tanto said in her calm voice. She always calls me Mistoffelees, never Misto. "You need to think about the magic. Not the Jellicle Ball," she added knowingly.

"You're reading my thoughts," I accused. "You said you wouldn't read my mind without telling me first, so I could try to block it."

"I'm not reading your mind, Mistoffelees. I'm remembering the first time I did the magic for the Jellicle Ball. Cori had to bite my tail once before I could make the lights red."

I laughed at the thought. Shy, quiet Cori biting Tanto? I could barely imagine it.

"Yes, it's funny. But imagining Cori biting my tail won't help you concentrate." Tanto said, once again seeming to read my thoughts. I almost got annoyed, but then I remembered I had laughed out loud just before she said that. It was pretty obvious. Maybe there was more to reading people's minds than just telepathy. I sighed and turned my attention to the bright red lights.

* * *

The Coming of Age Dance is really hard. I just can't get the steps in order. I always learn better when I can see somebody else do the dance. Jennyanydots is teaching me the dance, but she can't really do it anymore. She's getting old, and she's too fat to even lick her toes. I told that to Misto once. He tried to tell me that it wasn't nice to say that, but I saw him laughing about it after I left. 

I'm going to ask Cassandra to show me the dance. She came of age three years ago. That's the year I was born, only I wasn't born until after the Ball. Misto was still too little to come to the ball then. We went to our first Jellicle Ball together. He's only five months older than me. Misto came of age at the last Preticle Ball. Tomkits become adults later than queenkits. Jenny explained it to me once. It's because we grow up faster, and can make decisions as adult cats sooner.

I wish I could go play with Misto today. Plato and Tumblebrutus probably would come too. We were going to play hide-and-seek in the junkyard. I usually lose. Plato can always find me. He says it's because my white fur sticks out, but I think he watches me when we all go to hide. I wonder why he watches me, and nobody else.

Even if Misto wasn't practicing with Tantomile now, we still couldn't play. I have to go talk to Cassandra now. I'm a little scared to go into her and Alonzo's home. It's in an old refrigerator box in the junkyard. I've never been in there before, because it's not really close to Misto's and my pipe. It's not even in the same clearing. I guess I'm off to find Cassandra. I hope she'll help.

* * *

"Tanto?" I asked. 

"Yes, Mistoffelees?" She answered, turning her attention to me. It was always unnerving when she did that. She concentrated completely on me, and it always seemed like she knew what I was going to say.

"I have a question," I said.

"I know," she replied.

"Actually, I have two questions. First of all, how do you always know when I have a question?"

"One, because you just said my name in an intonation implying a question. Two, because you look like you're wondering about something. And three, because you always have a question." Tantomile smiled faintly. "So what's your second question?"

"Why won't Cori teach me?"

Tantomile's smile disappeared. Her ear twitched and she looked like she was thinking about how to answer me.

"Well," she said carefully. "He doesn't have a lot of patience for tomkits."

"You said that before. But he always has patience for the other tomkits, and I'm not even a tomkit anymore. I'm a real tom now. He knows that. He was at the Preticle Ball, I remember he did the lights. Green, the opposite of red, because it's the opposite of the Jellicle Ball. I even remember the lecture he gave about it to me. But that's all he ever taught me! He hasn't said more than two words to me since then!" I probably would have kept going if Tanto hadn't turned sharply away from me. That startled me even more than when she looked at me. She always says that eye contact is important, in magic and conversation. I must have done something really bad for her to refuse to look at me.

"It's not your fault," Tantomile said after a short pause. "But he's jealous. Of you."

"Cori? He's jealous of me? But I can't do anything! I can't even make a light turn red! Why would he be jealous of me?"

"It's not what you can do. It's what you could do."

"Tanto! That doesn't make sense! Please just tell me. I really don't want to try to decipher prophetic code now."

Tantomile sighed. "He's not jealous of what you know how to do. He is jealous of what you could be able to do once you learn. You have more magical potential than any Jellicle I've ever met. Even Coricopat. Even Macavity."

I stared at her in shock. I, a tom barely out of kittenhood, was possibly more powerful than Coricopat, my role model? More powerful than Macavity, the sworn enemy of the Jellicles? She had to be wrong.

I felt another mind in the periphery of my thoughts. I opened my mind and sensed Tantomile there.

_I know you don't believe it,_ She said in my mind, her comforting presence calming me down a little. _But you are that powerful. You must never forget this._ _With power comes choices. Make sure you make the right decisions. Much depends on it._

I shuddered at her prophetic words. Tantomile left my mind, and I sat down hard, right were I was. Tanto licked my forehead protectively, nuzzled my ear, and left. She knew I had to be alone to think about this.

What danger could be coming that _I_ would have to stand against?


End file.
